Although my mom grew up on a small farm outside of Detroit and was returning to her roots when my parents bought Green Acres Farm, I grew up in Ann Arbor, and the closest thing to farming I ever did growing up was help a little with the large garden my mom maintained when I was in high school. If you had asked me years ago would I ever want to be a farmer, I would have given you a “look”. But here I am, on this incredible journey, and loving it.
My poor husband, Gary, tries to not to be too mystified by the new me, and has gotten amazingly good at going with the flow. Goats are a good example. As we were getting closer to our move to the farm, I bought a couple of books about raising dairy goats. His initial response was, “Really? I don’t think so.” But I eventually got him on board by telling him how the goats were going to do a great job cleaning up all the poison ivy, and honey suckle, and other invasive plants. “Well, OK” he said, “But you aren’t planning on milking them, right?” I am pretty sure I just changed the subject at that point and hoped he didn’t notice, because while he was thinking “NO WAY”, I was thinking, “Yes, maybe.”
When we got here, I sent out some feelers to dairy goat breeders in the area, and in the spring of 2020, when I told him there were brand new baby goats nearby that we could buy, his initial response was “Really, NOW?” Then I showed him a video of the kids hopping around like jumping beans, and we made a visit to meet and cuddle them. He was as charmed as I was. So I got my goats.
And we love the goats. Well, I love the goats, and he at least likes them, even though they aren’t as good at “cleaning up” the poison ivy, etc, as I had advertised. They are more into “a nibble here, a nibble there, and move on” sort of grazing. So, when I told him last fall that I had noticed that Izzie was in estrous and I wanted to breed her, he wasn’t buying my story that more goats were the key to improving their landscaping skills. OK, I admitted, maybe I was thinking about milking her. “And what are you going to do with the babies?” he asked. Well, I said, we have room for another goat or two, and if there are bucks (males), I will just have to be a “real” farmer and eat them. I don’t think he believed I could do it for even a minute, but he held his tongue. And I really thought I meant it, right up until Izzie’s kids were born. Then I was just grateful that they were both doelings (females).
And I have been milking. We got off to a rough start. I had only book learning of what in the heck I was doing, and Izzie was not on board in any way, shape or form. Getting her on the milking stand and having her let me milk her involved some serious two person goat wrestling for the first few weeks, as well as one panicked call to a fellow goat owner pleading for an onsite tutorial, which she was kind enough to provide (THANK YOU Amanda – Wild Dandelion Acres). Along the way I did hear a grumbled “I didn’t sign up for this” from Gary, in the middle of a goat wrestle, but fortunately, Izzie and I worked it out, and wrestling is no longer required. Now we have a refrigerator that is always full of goat milk, which we use for our daily milk needs. If Gary misses cow’s milk, or the half and half in his coffee, he hasn’t complained. Well, once, when buying alfalfa hay, I am pretty sure I heard a mumble about the cost of feeding goats vs the cost of buying milk. That got Gary the “look”, and he has good-naturedly not mentioned it again.
Now I am learning how to make cheese, and having invested in a couple of excellent cheese making books, and various other cheese making supplies I can’t let that investment go to waste, right? But a dairy goat might be in milk for 9-10 months, but then needs to have babies again to keep producing… every year. And twin goats are common, and triplets (or more) are not rare. Now not only Gary, but my mom asks me what I am going to do with the babies. As my mother says, “Do the math!” Not to worry I told them. I only want 4 goats. I am going to sell the babies! REALLY! (I know better than claiming I am going to eat any of them this time!)
Well, Izzie and I made a trip to meet up with a buck yesterday, and if all goes well there will be kids again at the beginning of June. When we got home, I told Gary that the buck came from an amazing milking pedigree and well, maybe, just maybe, we should think about keeping any doelings. Bless his heart, Gary didn’t even raise an eyebrow, just told me he had already been thinking about how to rearrange the old barn to make room for more goats, vs where to put a small pole barn in the spring. Just don’t tell my mom! And if you are thinking you might want to adopt a few goats next year, let me know, because maybe you can help save me from myself!
And did I mention that the ducks that were hanging out with the goats at the goat farm were totally adorable? I told Gary that maybe we need ducks too………….